Tag Archives: warm

Picture it….you’re wrapped up in your sleeping bag, out in the wilds od Alaska, Oregon, oe what-have-you….your upper body is nice and snug and warm, but darn it, can you get your tootsies warm? Like hell you can, as John Wayne would say!

I’m sure you’ve been in that position many times when trying to get a decent night’s sleep after a hike. I usually find that adding extra blankets or coverings over the bag, or even inside it, ends up making you feel too hot…..result? The same as before…no sleep!

Having experimented with different sleeping methods over the many years I’ve been hiking, I found very few sleeping bags that can accommodate me and my cold-feet problems.

One of those bags was given to me as a birthday present and was used for many years, until it finally gave out through natural wear and tear…I don’t even recall what the make was or where it was bought.

Anyway, I recently bought a 2nd back up bag for myself…..what do you need a back-up bag for, I hear you say? Well, with the rigors of dirt and dust, there comes a time when you have to wash your bag out, in which case you’re gonna need another one! That’s why I paid a visit to my local MEC store.

There I was regaled by a very knowledgeable salesperson about all the bags within my budget and for my type of hike. I finally settled on the Mirage sleeping. It cost me only around $108 all-in, which I think is great price.

As with all things, the proof comes in the pudding, as they say, so the first thing I did was to plan a hike that would take me to a cold part of my area, partly to get away from the city, partly to try this new bag out.

I found it to be very roomy indeed, with plenty of space in it allowing you to move around…..I always need to shift myself around many times before I settle down to sleep….I know, it’s a bad habit that I grew up with and often results in little arguments between me and the wife, as she gets sick and tired of me moving around on the bed when she’s trying to sleep!

But back to the original problem of cold feet. This bag was the only one, aside of that old one that I threw away after many years service, which warms me up from head to toe…..no need for extra covers etc.

I slept like a little baby, all snug and sound, in temperatures down to around -10C, which for a light bag like this one is simply fab. What is it like to pack? Easy as pie, even though it is a little heavier than some bags. The zips are good and strong, and as a bonus, the bag doubles up as a comforter in warmer weather.

One little addition I found really handy…was that the zipper pulls glow in the dark…handy, eh?

Continuing with my recent post about some of the very critical things we just cannot do without when hiking in the wild places, is shelter.

I once read somewhere that the number 3 quantifies a whole range of actions that wilderness users are always up against. For example, a person can supposedly live without air for a max of 3 minutes, without shelter for 3 hours, without water for 3 days and without food for 3 weeks. So shelter is the second most important thing that governs how long we can survive in the open.

And of course, if hiking in extreme cold, I wouldn’t like to bet that I’d last even 3 hours….I well remember being caught out in the extreme cold in Ontario once, when the temperature was -25C and with the wind chill factor added to that, it was -35C…yes, -35C! At that temperature, any exposed skin freezes solid within seconds.

So anyway, shelter, and knowing how to construct it with whatever is available, is of paramount importance.

Here, I’m going to talk about a very simple, but potentially life-saving shelter that can be constructed quite quickly and will keep you safe and snug for many days, until such a time when you decide to move on or can construct a more solid version.

This kind of shelter relies on us finding a fallen tree, under which all that needs to be done is to gather a few long branches, lay them at an angle with one end resting on the tree or log and the other end on the ground.

ONce those branches are in place, the gaps between them are covered up with smaller branches, moss or twigs — if these have leaves on, so much the better as they keep the rain out and act as insulation, too.

Again, depending on your location, you can use a pile of leaves for floor insulation as well, or if no leaves, then smaller branches or dry moss will do just as well. The reason for this is that the worst you can do having made your shelter, is to lie on the bare floor. Doing that will cause loss of body heat, which is the last the thing you need in a life-threatening situation.

One final idea is to keep a small fire going in front of the entrance to your shelter. Just having a fire going will be enough to keep you warm and dry and also allowing you to prepare your meals. The heat from the fire will be reflected to an extent into the shelter, keeping that dry, too. The simple diagram below shows how to go about building this shelter.

If you happen to be carrying a tarpaulin and rope with you, then your task is so much easier. All you have to do is tie the rope between two trees and simply throw the tarpaulin over the rope and put some rocks or weights to hold it down at the edges. Easy as that!

There are as many variations on this theme as you can imagine, but the main point is that having a shelter will do wonders for your morale, aside of keeping you warm.